An important statistical technique was invented at Guinness’s Dublin brewery, as part of quality control in 1908. By helping to improve the product, it helped to make Guinness an international brand. An extract from our new book, Ingenious Dublin, for Arthur’s Day 2012. If you wanted to know the average height of the Irish population […]
New book celebrates Dublin inventions, discoveries and hidden stories
Think you know Dublin? Press release: August 27th 2012 Where in Dublin can you peer inside a Victorian diving bell? Or see the skeleton of Tommy, the prince’s elephant? Where was the world’s first earthquake experiment done? Did you know the hypodermic syringe was invented in the former Meath Hospital? And that Dublin algebra […]
A walk in the tropics of Glasnevin: Podcast Tour 2
Want to know what links Ludwig Wittgenstein and the celery-topped pine tree? Then come with us on our podcast tour of the wonderful glasshouses in the Irish Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin, Dublin. You’ll hear stories about weird plants, the engineering of a glasshouse, exotic orchids, and some of the science and scientists associated with the […]
10 things you might not know about Dublin!
1. Napoleon Bonaparte’s toothbrush is in the Royal College of Physicians, Kildare Street! (Well, one of his brushes!) 2. ‘Humane hanging’ was invented here in 1866 by Samuel Haughton, a TCD geology professor. 3. Acetylene was discovered in Leinster House in 1836 by a chemistry professor, Edmund Davy, who nearly blew the place up with his experiment. […]
A song, a walk and a good equation: podcast tour 1
Do you enjoy a song, a walk and a good algebra equation? Then you’ll enjoy our podcast walking tour. It features a lovely stroll by Dublin’s Royal Canal, tracing the steps of Ireland’s greatest scientist Sir William Rowan Hamilton, on the day he invented a new type of algebra. Click to download the podcast here. […]
What inventions should be in our new tour?
From the stethoscope and the hypodermic syringe to Sudocrem… there are lots of ingenious inventions associated with Dublin and Ireland. There are also some tasty ones — like milk chocolate and flavoured crisps — and rather a lot of boozy ones too (think: whiskey, Bailey’s Irish cream, Irish coffee and draught Guinness in a can). […]
What are Ireland’s ‘Top 10’ science places?
You can now find Ireland’s ‘top 10’ science places, thanks to our new interactive Atlas of ingenious places. We’ve selected the best Irish locations, in six geeky-science themes, stretching all the way from the Giant’s Causeway to Mizen Head. To view each of the ‘top 10’ lists on the Atlas, just toggle the other categories off. […]
The Seven Wonders of Ireland — have you seen them all?
If you had to choose seven Irish wonders, what would they be? We’ve selected seven world-class wonders around Ireland, for the launch of our geeky new online Atlas of ingenious places. You can see our seven wonders on the Atlas (and there is a full list below). They are all national treasures that we hope more […]
The 7 Wonders of Ireland — press release
7 Wonders named as part of launch of new Atlas of scientific people and places Did you know . . . Ireland has some of the world’s oldest fossil ‘footprints’? Irish algebra helped to land a man on the Moon? The great telescope at Birr was the biggest in the world for over 70 years? […]
Mixing humours: Ireland’s first blood transfusion
Ireland’s first (recorded) blood transfusion took place on this day in 1865 when, in a last-ditch attempt to save a girl’s life, a doctor gave her some of his own blood. It wasn’t a success . . . but it may have inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The story begins a few weeks earlier… On March 27th […]
